Rehabilitation of water supply stations set to improve water availability
The Zimbabwe National Water Authority is on serious drive to rehabilitate water supply stations countrywide as it seeks to improve potable water supplies to small towns, growth points and rural service centres. ZINWA runs 534 water treatment plants around Zimbabwe; supplying potable water to small towns, growth points and rural service centres. In recent years; water supplies to these areas had been severely constrained owing primarily to ageing water treatment and reticulation infrastructure. The ageing infrastructure led to diminishing water production while the aged reticulation infrastructure meant that incessant pipe bursts and breakdowns resulting in the towns experiencing water supply challenges. The growth in the populations in these areas also compounded the situation as this meant increased demand for water. Some newly developed areas could not be reticulated due to the unavailability of water.
Realizing these gaps and in view of the important role that water plays as an enabler of socio-economic development, ZINWA has embarked a programme to rehabilitate its water treatment plants around the country. The rehabilitation programme are tailor made to help restore the water treatment plants to their full design production capacity, to expand some of the treatment plants, improve on the reticulation networks and the expansion of the reticulation network to allow for the connection of previously unreticulated areas.
The rehabilitation programme is being funded through a combination of ZINWA’s internally generated resources and a $700 million allocation for the purpose by Government in the 2021 budget.
To date rehabilitation work has been completed in Binga, Chimhanda, Chivi, Buffalo Range and Murambinda while work is at a very advanced stage in Rutenga, Dete, Esigodini, Filabusi, Colleen Bawn, Gokwe, Nyanga, Dema and Parerihwa. This work will see tens of thousands of households in the small towns, growth points and rural service centres benefitting. The successful rehabilitation of the water treatment plants will also help unlock economic opportunities for businesses and individuals considering the multiplier effect of reliable water supplies.
To add tonic to the initiative and to ensure the expeditious and timely completion of the rehabilitation projects, ZINWA has put together a Project Management Unit tasked with coordinating and overseeing the implementation of the rehabilitation projects in different parts of the country.